See Sarah Hyland's Exclusive 2016 Emmys Photo Diary

Modern Family star Sarah Hyland has been attending the Emmys ever since ABC’s hit comedy was first nominated in 2010—and with a steady stream of nods for the show year after year, the 25-year-old star has become a pro at prepping for television’s biggest night. This year, she took InStyle along for the ride—from getting glam to hitting the red carpet in a show-stopping Monique Lhuillier bodice-and-pants ensemble. Hyland's inspo for the look? “My fantastic stylist, Brad Goreski, and I wanted to bring a really classy look to the Emmys that’s a bit different, but still traditional and dramatic,” Hyland told InStyle earlier today. “It was a bit of a half-gown and trouser moment, and I loved it.”

Other than hitting the red carpet, Hyland's highlight of the night was celebrating Mr. Robot star Rami Malek’s win for Lead Actor in a Drama Series. “He’s a dear friend of mine, and I was over-the-moon happy for him,” said Hyland. “He’s so deserving of it, but that’s a very tough category and I was so, so happy for him.”

Sign up for our shopping newsletter

Another of Hyland’s favorite moments came later on in the evening, well after the ceremony had ended. “I accidentally bumped into one of Matt Damon’s friends at Jimmy Kimmel’s party, and this woman said I should go up to Matt Damon and say that my grandfather invented cardboard,” said Hyland. “I asked if it was a dare, and she said yes—and I don’t take dares very lightly. So I waited for Matt Damon to be done talking—with my friend Rami, actually—and I went up to him and said, ‘Just so you know, my grandfather invented cardboard.’ He thought it was funny, so that was the first time I met Matt Damon. And I think I like them apples.”

Scroll down to see more of Hyland’s night in her exclusive photo diary for InStyle.

1 of 10

The Manicure

Nathaniel Wood

"I decided that the theme of the night was to really bring out the gold threading from my outfit. So in addition to my makeup artist, Allan Avendano, using gold eyeliner, my manicurist, Christina, did an amazing nail look. She applied a base coat and then two coats of Allure by Essie. After that, she applied vertical stripes down the center of the nails with Essie's Good as Gold before finishing with Essie's Gel Setter top coat."

The Accessories

3 of 10

The Hair

Nathaniel Wood

“I wanted to have a very cool and simple hairdo. It was a center part with a couple of pieces down in the front. My hairstylist, Ryan Richman, added some fake hair to do a little loop in the back, because my hair is too short. I thought it was really beautiful and modern at the same time.”

Advertisement

4 of 10

The Mane Details

Nathaniel Wood

"I love it when my tattoo shows—my hummingbird doesn’t get out very much! I have short hair, so it’s hard to put my hair up a lot, but I like when my hummingbird shows—and there were flowers on my corset, which is kind of fitting. I like when things like that happen. It’s a happy mistake."

5 of 10

The Outfit

Nathaniel Wood

"Brad Goreski came to me, and we were discussing a lot of different things that were going on, and he asked how I would feel about a pants moment. I said, ‘I want it. Right now.’ He showed me the Monique Lhuillier bodice, and I asked if the pants could be black. He said they could be whatever I wanted them to be, so I said, 'Let’s do it.' That was the only moment we were going for this Emmy Awards season. It was all leading up to that, because in my mind, there was nothing else.”

6 of 10

The Jewelry

Nathaniel Wood

"Lorraine Schwartz is such an amazing jewelry designer. I had a beautiful yellow gold leaf ring that was rather large, and then a bunch of bands. We also went with statement earrings, which were these beautiful yellow diamonds that were flowers. I loved them so much—and they were so heavy! Overall, we didn’t want to have too much gold and have the jewelry overpower the dress—we wanted it to all go together."

8 of 10

The Last-Minute mini photo shoot

Nathaniel Wood

"Getting ready and leaving the house was such a whirlwind. I had bruised my knees the day before while filming something, and covering up the bruises set us behind a good 15 minutes—which doesn’t sound like a lot, but it becomes a lot when the time is so meticulous in how you spend it. We were running a little bit late, but we set up a little white backdrop to take a few shots before I left. We’ve shot at my house before, but I’m pretty sure the gardeners hadn’t come to the backyard and the grass was probably overgrown—so we just set up a simple backdrop!"

9 of 10

The Red Carpet

Nathaniel Wood

"I was obsessing over Brad’s purple velvet jacket on the red carpet. We started singing 'Purple Rain,' but instead of singing 'Purple rain' we were singing 'Purple velvet, purple velvet.' We were just having fun and he was making sure everything was perfect and I was just soaking up his awesomeness."